JOHN LENNON'S 'IMAGINE' AND SECULAR HUMANISM : PART 1
Copyright 1994 - 2008 Endtime Prophecy Org
Last Updated : July 23, 2006
Modern Man's Idol Worship: Rock Stars, Sports And Olympics,
Historical Idols, Hollywood Idols, Teachers, Satan Claus,
Easter Bunny, Automobiles, Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel,
Temple And Building Worship, Wide Gates And False Prophets
The IRS And Filthy Lucre, Earthquakes, Cities & Skyscrapers
King Nebuchadnezzar's Abasement, King Herod's Horrible Death
Idols. We are all familiar with the word. In our modern
world, there are all kinds of idols, yet some of them are
not so obvious. For some people, an idol might be a popular
musical artist. The now-deceased Elvis Presley, known to his
die-hard fans as 'the king', is one such example. Many years
after his presumed death, Presley's music is still extremely
popular. For other people, their idol might be a favorite
sports player who has repeatedly scored a lot of points and
thus led his team on to victory; or perhaps he has broken a
certain world record, and won not only a place of worship in
the sports Hall Of Fame, but he has also been given a little
statuette to continually remind him of his accomplishment;
yet another idol. The Olympics are the epitome of human idol
worship. In this grandiose event, the flesh is placed upon a
pedestal, as participants from around the world unite in
order to demonstrate the power and form of their bodies; all
without God. These people would do well to remember the
words of the Holy Bible:
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no
good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to
perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7:18)
"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof
falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto
you." (1 Peter 1:24-25)
The world of politics is very much the same. Every country
has a long list of historical heroes who are used as role
models for the upcoming generation. These men and women of
the past are set up as shining examples; and used to teach
children proper values, as well as to instill a strong sense
of national patriotism, loyalty and self-sacrifice for the
benefit of all. In the United States of America, these idols
include figures like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and
Martin Luther King Jr. In the nations' capitals of the world
we find many idols, or statues and monuments, dedicated to
such people. Often they contain certain profound words which
were once spoken by these people.
The movie industry of Hollywood, California, U.S.A. also
provides us with a plethora of cinemagraphic idols who rise
and fall like the waves of the sea. Just like famous sports
personalities, musical artists and television actors and
actresses, every year, Hollywood rewards its participants
with a little statue, or idol, called Oscar, to serve as a
constant reminder that they are the best in their area of
performance. So from the Grammy Awards, to the Emmy Awards,
to the Academy Awards, to the stars on Hollywood Boulevard,
pride and human accomplishment are worshipped like idols. Of
course, there are many other such rewards which are given in
order to demonstrate recognition of one's accomplishements
in this life, such as those offered for great scientific
achievements, for diplomatic achievements such as the Nobel
Peace Prize, for great literary works, etc. Contrary to the
Holy Scriptures, all of these things glorify man and his
accomplishments, and have very little or absolutely nothing
to do with glorifying God:
"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do
all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)
"But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
(2 Corinthians 10:17)
Sadly, children do not escape this blatant idolatry in our
modern society. One small example is a child in school who
might idolize a favorite teacher he or she particularly
admires. Perhaps the child may have a crush on that teacher,
or desire to be just like them when he or she grows up. In
most cases, this infatuation is a temporary phase in their
lives which will eventually pass; yet still, the Apostle
Paul offered some sound advice when he wrote that we should
only seek to follow those who themselves follow the ways of
Christ, and sadly, many modern teachers do not do this by
any means whatsoever:
"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."
(1 Corinthians 11:1)
Of course, one of the worst kinds of idolatry found amongst
the younger generation, is that of the widespread worship of
Santa Claus; who many Christians prefer to refer to as Satan
Claus, in order to expose the terrible deception which has
been foisted upon the children of the world through this
yearly tradition. Due to modern merchants and other ungodly
forces, the miraculous birth of our Saviour so long ago has
been overshadowed by the devil in the red suit! Popularizing
the so-called 'Easter Bunny' during the Easter season is yet
another form of idol worship in America which detracts from
the true significance of the Easter event; that being the
Resurrection of our blessed Saviour. Surely, Satan has done
his best to try to replace our Christian values with pagan
counterfeits, and many Americans have stood in line in order
to receive their yearly dose of delusion.
Another kind of idolatry which comes to mind, is that of the
worship of the creations of our own hands; such as machines,
new scientific inventions, certain beautiful buildings, etc.
We have all heard someone at one time or another worshipping
their own automobile by proudly describing its many features
for us; such as how powerful the engine is, how many miles
per gallon it can obtain, the quadraphonic sound system, the
stylish hubcaps, the soft leather interior, etc. Some people
enjoy 'cruising' around town just so they can show off their
new idol amongst all of the other idols vying for attention.
In the old days, before the advent of automatic washing and
waxing facilities, people would spend hours bowed down to
their idol as they worked feverishly to give it a new coat
of wax like a man seeking to please a maiden.
Like the ancient Tower of Babel, modern towering structures
of steel and glass pierce upward towards the heavens, as if
to say in a subtle way like Nimrod of old, that man is still
defying the Almighty, and trying to be his own god. Like the
symbolic thorns in the Parable of the Sower, man bustles
about in the artificial environment of his cities, totally
occupied by the cares of this life, ignoring his God, and
stabbing his Creator in the heart; just as the thorns were
likewise placed upon our Lord's head. Consider the following
verses:
"And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with
it, and choked it...And that which fell among thorns are
they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked
with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring
no fruit to perfection." (Luke 8:7, 14)
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow
shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6:34)
"Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into
such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell,
and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the
morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that
appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For
that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and
do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all
such rejoicing is evil." (James 4:13-16)
In the eleventh chapter of the Book of Genesis, we read of
the first failed attempt by Nimrod to create a world without
God. Like evil men today, he too wanted to make a name for
himself, instead of praising and worshipping the Name of the
Almighty; thus he began the construction of Babel:
"And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the
earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it
is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and
Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar"
(Genesis 10:8-10)
"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that
they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt
there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make
brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for
stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to,
let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto
heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came
down to see the city and the tower, which the children of
men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one,
and they have all one language; and this they begin to do:
and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they
have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there
confound their language, that they may not understand one
another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from
thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to
build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel;
because the LORD did there confound the language of all the
earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon
the face of all the earth." (Genesis 11:1-9)
From Babel, to the pyramids of ancient Egypt, to the pagan
temples of Greece and Rome, to our modern skyscrapers today,
we find the very same building worship occurring. These
latter two cultures were also notorious for their adoration
of the human body, and manifested their worship of the same
through the multitudinous statues and monuments which lined
their streets, decorated their plazas and filled their many
temples. In fact, it is with the Greek culture that the
Olympics find their origin. The proud Caesars of Rome took
this a step further and were even reverenced as demigods, or
gods in human form.
The Jews were not immune to the ungodly worship of human
structures. Aside from their worship of the pagan gods of
their heathen enemies, they too yielded to the temptation of
idolizing their own buildings. In fact, in both the Gospels
and the Book of Acts, we discover that even the Lord's own
Disciples were apparently in awe of the glory of the Temple
in Jerusalem, one gate of which was known as 'Beautiful',
from the Greek word 'horaios'. According to Easton's Bible
Dictionary, this gate is supposed to have been the door
which led from the court of the Gentiles to the court of the
women. It was quite massive, and was covered with plates of
Corinthian brass. The Lord's Disciples must have been
greatly surprised when Jesus prophesied of the Temple's
destruction:
"And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his
disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the
temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these
things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here
one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
(Matthew 24:1-2)
"And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with
goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which
ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not
be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown
down." (Luke 21:5-6)
"And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried,
whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is
called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the
temple;...And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at
the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with
wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him."
(Acts 3:2, 10)
Why is it that Jesus Christ pronounced this prophecy against
the Temple in Jerusalem; against the very complex which the
self-righteous Jewish religious leaders claimed was the
House of God? As I explain clearly in other articles, quite
simply, it is because, instead of accepting the Salvation
which could only be freely obtained through the Messiah,
those proud, stubborn religionists chose to cling to their
traditions, and to the physical rock of the Temple, instead
of clinging to the True Spiritual Rock; that is, the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. God never wanted a physical Temple to
begin with; He only allowed it at King David's insistence;
and even King Solomon, who built the Temple, realized that
it was not really necessary or desired by the Lord. It was
only puny man who felt he needed something physical in order
to properly honor the God of Heaven; just like the pagan
nations around them who built temples to their false gods.
From the days of King Solomon until now, the first two
Temples, both of which were destroyed by the enemies of the
Israelites as a clear statement from the Lord; as well as
the desire for a Third Temple, have actually stood in the
way of the Salvation of the Jews. It became, and will again
become, if a third one is built, an idol, a stumbling block,
a rock of offense which caused, and will cause, the Jews to
reject their true Messiah who has already come in the flesh,
and who will soon return in the Power and Glory of His
Father with the holy Angels! This powerful message is very
clear from one end of the Bible to the other; yet sadly, the
Jews have purposely chosen to ignore it! Here is the
Scriptural proof of my words:
"Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the
LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are
these." (Jeremiah 7:4)
"For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples;
and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a
fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces
thereof." (Hosea 8:14)
"Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth
is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me?
and where is the place of my rest?" (Isaiah 66:1)
"And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD
came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus
saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell
in? Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time
that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even
to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.
In all the places wherein I have walked with all the
children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of
Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying,
Why build ye not me an house of cedar?" (2 Samuel 7:4-7)
"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven
and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less
this house that I have builded?" (1 Kings 8:27)
"Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; as saith the prophet," (Acts 7:48)
"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh,
when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at
Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what:
we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But
the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
(John 4:21-24)
"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken
from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be
broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him
to powder." (Matthew 21:43-44)
"I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou
art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they
are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."
(Revelation 2:9)
"Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which
say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will
make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know
that I have loved thee." (Revelation 3:9)
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not
come, except there come a falling away first, and that man
of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God,
shewing himself that he is God." (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)
Those final verses clearly reveal what will be the evil end
result of believing in a lie, and building a temple to God
when He never ever desired such a thing. If God is clearly
opposed to any physical structures being built in His honour
as the previous verses demonstrate, what then is the True
Church? What is the True Temple of God? While I have amply
provided an answer to this question in such articles as 'Is
God A Racist?' and 'Where Are The First Century Churches?',
allow me to once again share some of the key verses with you
which point the way to Scriptural Truth, and not to what you
hear from modern-day false prophets who stand in their
pulpits and spout off their poisonous platitudes. As you
will see, Jesus Christ Himself is the Spiritual Rock of His
purely Spiritual Temple, made up of you and me:
"And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank
of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was
Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:4)
"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house,
an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is
contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief
corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he
is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,
even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient:
whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"
(1 Peter 2:5-9)
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not
your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify
God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for
ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I
will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch
not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a
Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:16-18)
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Corinthians 5:1)
"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of
my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon
him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God,
which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from
my God: and I will write upon him my new name."
(Revelation 3:12)
"And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are the temple of it." (Revelation 21:22)
Sadly, today, in modern Christianity, or to be more precise,
modern churchianity, we find the very same thing happening.
Millions of dollars are spent every single year as proud
religionists seek to build bigger and greater abominations
which will impress the congregation down the street and draw
them into their wide doors. How much that reminds me of the
serious warning issued by the Lord so long ago:
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
What I find quite interesting, is the fact that right after
this, in the very next verses, the Lord issues His warning
regarding false prophets; as if to suggest that these false
prophets, these false religionists who cry 'Lord, lord' and
'Come to our church', are the very keepers of the wide gates
which lead to destruction!:
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall
know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns,
or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth
good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A
good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into
the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
(Matthew 7:15-20)
As I mention in other articles, today, organized religion,
or organized division as I prefer to call it, is more
interested in numbers, in quantity, and not so much in the
spiritual quality of its members. The Truth of the Gospel is
being sacrificed and compromised in many churches; all for
the sake of gaining more filthy lucre from their members;
after all, if one preaches the pure Truth of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, he won't be left with very many followers by
the time he is done. Thus, many preachers soften the message
in order to keep that money rolling in the doors. If only
they would follow the sound advice found in the Epistles:
"Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;
but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;...Likewise must
the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much
wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;" (1 Timothy 3:3, 8)
"For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not
selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker,
not given to filthy lucre;...Whose mouths must be stopped,
who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought
not, for filthy lucre's sake." (Titus 1:7, 11)
"Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the
oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for
filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;" (1 Peter 5:2)
"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while
some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and
pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
(1 Timothy 6:10)
Because many of these men of God have gone awhoring after
the almighty dollar, as Paul clearly warns in the previous
verse, they are now being pierced through with many sorrows;
particularly when the IRS, (Internal Revenue Service in the
United States Of America), begins to audit their church
finances, and encounters embarrassing discrepancies in their
bookkeeping.
Returning to the topic of building worship, despite man's
best attempts, which are truly feeble in the sight of the
Lord, all God has to do is to give one strong blast from His
nostrils to shake the Earth, and their thorny pillars of
glory which thrust into the sky will come falling down. In
fact, God's Holy Word suggests that this is what the future
may hold for all of man's monolithic structures which scrape
the boundary between sky and Earth. Consider the following
very revelatory verses:
"Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of
their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: And
the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth
himself: therefore forgive them not. Enter into the rock,
and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the
glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be
humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and
the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of
the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and
lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be
brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are
high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, And
upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are
lifted up, And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced
wall, And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all
pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed
down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the
LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he
shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of
the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the
LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to
shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his
idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each
one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To
go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the
ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his
majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth."
(Isaiah 2:8-21)
"And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of
horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is
fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken
unto the ground." (Isaiah 21:9)
"And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every
high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the
great slaughter, when the towers fall." (Isaiah 30:25)
"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo,
there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the
stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree
casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty
wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together; and every mountain and island were moved out of
their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men,
and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty
men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves
in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to
the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the
face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who
shall be able to stand?" (Revelation 6:12-17)
"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is
fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
(Revelation 14:8)
"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and
there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from
the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and
thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake,
such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an
earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided
into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and
great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto
her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And
every island fled away, and the mountains were not found."
(Revelation 16:17-20)
"And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon
the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation
of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of
every unclean and hateful bird." (Revelation 18:2)
"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they
escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more
shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh
from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he
hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth
only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more,
signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as
of things that are made, that those things which cannot be
shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a
consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:25-29)
"And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these
Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because
they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen,
upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye
that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in
Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall
all likewise perish." (Luke 13:2-5)
Despite these stiff warnings found in God's Word, foolish
man continues in his idolatrous ways. From one end to the
other, the Bible is one continuous story of man's worship of
man and of the creations of his own hands. We find political
leaders, who in their own pride, idolized themselves due to
their great riches and power; and in other cases, we find
leaders who were worshipped by their own people as gods. One
clear example of the former, which I discuss in 'The Kings
Of The North And The South', as well as in the series 'The
Seven Heads', is that of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.
This proud king's ego was so inflated, that he had a huge
idol constructed in the plain of Dura; which he then forced
his subjects to worship. In 'The Seven Heads' series, I
suggest that this great statue may actually have been a
likeness of the king himself; designed after the image the
king had seen in a night vision in Daniel chapter two. Not
too long ago, I discovered that a great base has been
discovered in Iraq; and that some people speculate that it
may actually be a part of the Babylonian king's idol.
As we read in the Scriptures, the Lord was very patient with
King Nebuchadnezzar. In fact, He even used this king as His
rod of judgment and chastisement against the rebellious land
of Judah; however, when Nebuchadnezzar uttered the following
boastful statement, the Lord apparently felt that this proud
monarch had passed the point of no return in his vanity; and
thus, God drove the king from his kingdom for a period of
seven years; until he learned the lesson of humility which
the Lord was trying to teach him:
"The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I
have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my
power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was
in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying,
O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is
departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and
thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they
shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall
pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in
the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The
same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and
he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his
body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were
grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds'
claws." (Daniel 4:30-33)
Imagine the shock of suddenly hearing a voice from Heaven
which tells you that you are about to feel the judgments of
the Lord. In fulfillment of the prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar was
indeed cast out of his kingdom. The king apparently suffered
some form of temporary insanity, and acted like a wild beast
for seven years until he had learned his lesson in humility.
If you read Daniel chapter four in its entirety, you will
discover that what is amazing about this story, is the fact
that the Lord had warned the king through a dream, that this
was going to happen to him if he didn't manifest a little
more humility; yet despite this fact, the king still yielded
to his pride; and thus he suffered a great fall, as per this
verse from the Book of Proverbs:
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit
before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)
While in Daniel chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar's abasement and
subsequent return to his position of power and royalty was
described as a tree which was cut off at the roots for a
period of seven years, in the seventh chapter of the same
book, it is revealed in another way. Consider the following
verse:
"The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld
till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up
from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a
man's heart was given to it." (Daniel 7:4)
After the Babylonian king had communed with the wild beasts
for seven years, he realized that it would be much wiser of
him to walk humbly before the Lord; and thus we find him
later saying:
"And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine
eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me,
and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him
that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing:
and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay
his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time
my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom,
mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my
counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was
established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added
unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour
the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways
judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase."
(Daniel 4:34-37)
In the New Testament, we find another excellent example of
idolatry manifested in the form of extreme man worship. In
this case, the crime was deemed so severe, that the Lord
took swift action, and the person involved lost his life. I
am of course referring to the murderous Jewish King Herod.
In Acts chapter twelve we find the following account:
"And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat
upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the
people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and
not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote
him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of
worms, and gave up the ghost." (Acts 12:21-23)
As we continue this discussion in part two of this series,
we will be taking a look at God's anger, chastisement in
this current life, the snare of pagan gods and idolatry,
iconoclasts, secular humanism, the wickedness of the human
heart, worldliness and materialism, the power of words, the
invisible battle and more. I hope that you will join me.
[ Click Me ] Go To Part Two . . .